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Mason City Globe-Gazette (Newspaper) - December 6, 1944, Mason City, Iowa
NORTH IOWAS DAILY PAPER EDITED FOR THE HOME Of AND ARCHIVES THE NEWSPAPER THAT MAKES ALL NORTH IOWANS NEIGHBORS VOL tl Associated Pren United Press Full Leased Wires Five Ceate a Copy MASON C1TX IOWA WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 6 1944 ThJi Paper Consists of Two STREET FIGHTS SPREAD IN ATHENS W WILL COST 71 BILLION A YEAR TO BEAT JAPS Somervell 300000 More Workers Needed in Critical Programs s New York the will cost us a year after Germany is de ffeated Lt Gen Brehon Somer Vvell predicted Wednesday The war against the Jap alone will be the biggest war this coun try or this world EVER fought before the present war asserted the commanding general of the army service forces Somervell declared 300000 more war workers are needed at once on critical programs as he ap pealed for an upsurge of produc tion in a speech prepared for de livery before the National Associa tion of Manufacturers Secret weapons are being pro duced that must be ready in large quantities for the Pacific pushes the speaker declared The devices are not yet in use in Eur ope For tlie first time munitions are being used up faster than tliey are being produced said Somervell warning that the full fury oE the war in Europe may not even have been reached and we are cer tainly not yet full out agains Japan Germany with its undeniabli fiendish skill and ii right now training thousands o fresh troops and turning out mil lions of tons of equipment To them the manufacturers wen told Within the past 90 days we have hadto increase by 23 pe cent our estimate of the produc ton we believed we would need te is Somerveir cost in equip ment whilereminding that thi nation has committedits troopst fightingthe war in one specif ah ovenvhelmin superiority of materiel W rather fire a ton of muni tions than lose a single American soldier OUr manpower was saved a Aachen where in our concentra tion of fire 300000 rounds wer fired from 105s alone he saic Similar tactics in the Pacific hav cost the Japanese 277000 men t our 21000 he added There can not be too mucl weight the speaker asserted In a litlle over 3 months afte Dday the 1st 3rd and 9th Amer lean armies in France fired 300 000000 rounds of small arms am munition 4426000 rounds o 105s 1248000 rounds of 155s 3 500000 rounds of mortar shells And I remind you there are other armies on this front as we as still others in the Mediter ranean and the Orient Since Oct 20 General Eisen ho wer has asked us for twofifth of all our present mortar she output Yet General MacArthu has used more mortar shell on Leyte than in all his previou actions combined In one month the 3 America armies in France lost from a causes S3 per cent of their dum trucks 50 per cent oC their moi tars J4 per cent of their scou cars 10 per cent their ligh and medium tanks said Somer veil iu stressing why mus make more and still more SOLDIERS HELP PRISON GUARDS 25 Felons Holding 4 Men as Hostages v Atlanta Ga from Fort McPherson arrived Wednes day to reinforce Atlanta peniten iary sentries guarding a segrega tion building where 25 desperai felons held 4 guards captive an threatened to behead them if of ficials tried to storm their priso within a prison Two truckloads of the soldier rolled through the gates at 8 a rn and parked on the drive tha circles in front of the main builc ing1 Each soldier shouldered a rifl and the officers in charge bor sidearms prepared to charge necessary the building where th felons held out armed with knives and razors APPEAL FOR NAZI WOMEN Stockholm Stockholm newspaper Dagens Nyheter said i a dispatch from Berlin Wednesda a new appeal had been issued fo German women over 18 years ol to volunteer for service in th army corps and relicv soldiers for frontline duty DE GAULLE IN MOSCOW Radiophoto shows General Charles De Gaulle head of the French government upon his arrival in Moscow for conferences with soviet govern ment heads On his left is V M Molotov who met him at the railroad station Yank Troops Force Soar River at 6 Places Most of Sarreguemines Seized Paris of the 3rd army forced the Saar river at 6 places and the French border town of Sarreguemines Wednesday Ar tillery was turned on the manswithdrawing northward into Riots Show Elements of New Era in Europe Hu TlnUUITT t 11 i By DeWITT MACKENZIE Associated Press War Analyst This column has been asked to nterpret Britains intervention in the Greek political crisis to pre vent as Prime Minister Churchill nas made clear any attempt to Impose by violence a communist dic tatorship1 a crisis which is produc ing fresh blood shed in ancient Athens as this is writ ten Well thats perhaps a thankless but MacKENZIE needful task since this situation strikes me as giving us in miniature a very ac curate picture of the whole Eu ropean politicosocial upheaval An understanding of the position is particularly necessaiy in view of Washingtons announcement Tuesday of a hands off policy permitting liberated nations to work out their own political sal vation along democratic lines without outside intereference There is focused in this fiery little Balkan kingdom of Greece all the elements that are usher ing in a new era on the continent So lets restate those elements as an aid to visualization Russia is coming out of the war as the dominant power of Europe a role long held by Britain John Bull naturally is increasingly ac tive in trying to salvage what he can of his old prestige Coincidentally many continent al countries distraught by 2 world wars within a generation are seeking eagerly almost frenziedly in some so lution of great economic social and political problems These seekers after relief are tending towards the left In most cases communism it isnt always clear whether its the Moscow brand or a local product is play ing a strong role This is true in most of the remaining monarchies of the continent and Greece is an outstanding example Now while the spread of com munism certainly cant be abhor rent to Russia it isnt calculated to help John Bull maintain his place in the sun This is particu larly true as regards the mon archies for Britains throne wants company When you add all this up it seems to me to provide one cogent Eden Splits With U S on Italy Rule Policy the Saarland Other assault teams beat down the jiastjBjtiOes toward burning aifd the key to German defenses Maj Gen Paul VV Baades 35th infantry division overran the major part of Sarreguemines pop 14000 aeainst light re sistance The largest French town oh the river it was entered Wed nesday morning The Germans blew up all 5 bridges across the Saar in with drawing into the 3rd of the town they still held Patrols crossed the river at a 7th place at Merzig 1 mile northwest of invested Saarlautern where Germans still held out in strong knots around concrete ad vance posts of the Siegfried line Lt Gen George S Pattons as sault troops fought into the Sieg fried line itself at 2 places be yond the river in the Saarlautern area Xexans of the 90th infantry crossed ihe Saar early Wednes day in assault boats at 4 new places in a 2A mile stretch be tween Merzig and Saarlautern They fought in the hills on the east hank of the river at the edge of the Siegfried line in a rain of rifle and machinegnn fire Saarbrucken capital ot the 726 square miles of the Saarland was in great and increasing peril as shells landed among its thickets of chimneys smoking as they turned out war material for Hitler The Americans were with in sight of the city Pattons right and the flanking U S 7th army squeezed down the German hold on northern Lor Karlsruhe a strip no more than 50 miles long andonly 5 to 20 miles deep His troops still poured through the original Saar bridgehead inside Saarlautern and through the 2nd gap thrown in the Saar defenses south of that city Tuesday night The exact locations of the assaults upon the Siegfried line itself were not specified Supreme headquarters regarded te 4 new Saar crossings as a single bridgehead the 3rd forged this week All along the 50mile front from Merrig to Sarre Union natural defenses the Germans were being negotiated and the enemy was being forced into the refuge of the stout Siegfried line Flood conditions along the rain choked Roer river shielding Col ogne were so bad that the V S 9th army along the stream failed in its first attempts to get patrols to the other side Nearest troops in that area were 22 miles from Cologne The first army gained a bit be low captured Bergstein at the edge of the Hurtgen forest within pistol shot of the Roer Gaining along its whole front the 3rd army pushed forward from 2 to 7 miles against the stag gered Germans who were unable to maintain an unbroken fronl southwest of Saarlautern whose 32000 make it the 2nd city of the Saarland The Germans fell back steadily before hard blows ol tanks and infantry and artillery The Karlsbrunn forest on the west side of the Saar virtually was cleared in a hard fight in which3he3Sth infantry and 6th urmored divisions drove almost incKetked into the outskirts of Sarreguemines force of this advance bulged deeply into Ger man lines along a 10mile front east of that French frontier coal town and pressed up to within 6 miles of the frontier Reds Plunge to 40 Miles From Austria Moscow armored columns plunged within 40 miles of Austria Wednesday storming past the lower end of Lake Bal aton in western Hungary and rip ping into the final defense zone guarding the southwestern reich frontier t dispatches said that self contained and fastmoving task torces from Marshal Feodor I Tolbukhins 3rd Ukrainian army already had stabbed deeply into the confused enemy flank behind the rail junction of Nagykanirsa 10 miles from the northern Yugo slavia border and 46 from Aus ia The major rail line north from Nagykanizsa through the Hungar ian city of Szombathely to Wiener Neustadt big German aircraft manufacturing center and Vienna was by Russian artillery The Austriabound Russians sprang forward from the area of Marcali reported captured Tues day Tolbukhins iriumph in massing his forces along most of Lake Bal atons southeastern shore gave him a pivotal base for flinging out encircling arms to the northeast around Budapest Hungarian cap ital and to the southwest around Zagreb northern Yugoslav city andcapital of Croatia CLAIMS BRITAIN RIGHT TO HELP IN GOVERNMENT Apparently Applies Words to Future of All Liberated Europe London Secretary Anthony Eden asserted flatly Wednesday that Britain was withinher rights in trying Jto oflibtnv ated countries and thereby SPLIT declaration of a handsoff pol icyin Italy Eden stood by the British gov ernments veto of the proposed appointment of Carlo Sforza as kalian foreign minister Secretary of State Stetiinius had announced Tuesday the United States did not oppose Sforza and felt the Ital ans should be allowed to form their own government without outside interference Edens of signi icance in the reshaping of a post war divided sen iment in the house Cries of no met a suggestion Ivor Thomas laborite that Britain withdraw gracefully and admit that a blunder has been made Just as Stetlinius implied that his no interference statement was a far broader declaration than the immediate issue of Count Sforza so Eden aparently applied his words to the future ALL liberated Europe I must repeat to the house that I maintain the British govern ment has a perfect right to ex press an opinion to another gov ernment about a minister under conditions such as these Eden Buy yonr War Bonds and Stamps from your GlobeGazette carrier boy Weather Report FORECAST Mason City Fair Wednesday night with lowest temperature about 25 Thursday mostly cloudy and mild with scattered light showers Iowa Generally fair with rising temperatures Wednesday anc Thursday Ixnvest temperature about 25 over the entire state Minnesota Partly cloudy Wednes day night and Thursday Littie change in temperature JN MASON CITY GlobeGazette weather statistics Maximum Tuesday 32 Minimum Tuesday night 24 At 8 a m Wednesday 24 YEAR AGO Maximum 45 Minimum 27 Precipitation 03 ANTHONY EDEN worked against him and said he felt Eden meant the Badoglio gov ernment instead Do you seriously mean to main tain the attitude that Count Sforza has worked against Signer Bonomi when Signer Bonomi says thai that is not so asked Sir Richard Acland leader of the leftwing commonwealth party I havesaid what our position is replied Eden 1 have nothing said Sforza portfolio was minister without in the Italian govern ment which resigned 10 days ago and Eden said Britain did not op pose his holding a job other than that of foreign minister Tvanoe Bonomi who once resigned as Italian premier still is trying to to add Laborite G R Strauss asked Eden whether Britain had taken her position without consultation with other allied governments He said he wished to know also how the foreign secretary could recon cile it with Bonomis complete denial As regards the first part of the question replied Eden perhaps you will be good enough to awai a question I am going to answer in a moment or two about other gov ernments As regards Signer Bonomis said Count Sforza and I are old friends and even when we have disagreed on anj particular question I have never had reason to doubt his persona friendship to me That would al most apply to Mr Strauss and my self Papandreou to Continue as Premier Athens final show down in Athens rioting was ex pected with the expiration at mid night Wednesday of the 72hour ultimatum issued by Lt Gen Ron ald Scobie British commander in Athens for the withdrawal o ELAS forces from the capital Any ELAS forces remaining in Athen after that hour Scobie warned would be dealt with as the enemy Premier George Papandreou government appeared to hay feathered tbestorm at least iem porarily Papandreou offered hi resignation Tuesday but late withdrew it afUir receiving assur antes of full British support from Prime Minister Churchill Though 5 leftists resigned from the Papandreou cabinet last week end the remaining members wer reported to have pledged full sup port to the premier at an emer gency meeting Tuesday night All parties except the resigne leftists are supporting the govern ment Marine Minister Panagio tis Canellopoulo said in an inter view after the meeting We ar waging a struggle for the demo cratic front against the fascis left Themistocles Sofoulis leader o the liberal party disclosed earlic that Papandreou had asked hin on Monday to form a new govern ment but asserted that the Britis ambassador informed him Tues day that latest instructions from Churchill made any change i the present head of the govern ment impossible Scobie also asked him to suppor Papandreou Sofoulis said but h replied that he could not compl because that would mean snp porting a dictatorship The death toll in the first 3 day alone in the battle of Athens stood at 100 or more with anothe 250 persons wounded form a new government British press commented The SHARPLY on the American note It was rude and meant to be so said the Manchester Guardian The Yorkshire Post said it smacked of selfrighteousness Both newspapers recalled British opposition to the Americansup ported Darlan administration in North Africa Eden announced a full dress de bate for Friday on the crisis in Greece where Britain is using her armed forces in line with a Churchill declaration against left wing elements When laboriie member Ivor Thomas asked whether the British governments views were being modified in the light of the Amer ican statement in favor of ahands off policy in Italy Eden replied I can assure you that my ans wers are revised up to the very last The house laughed I explained the attitude of the British government in my state ment of Dec 1 said Eden The statement subsequently issued by Signer Bonomi in no way modifies the views ot his majestys govern ment Eden said on Dec 1 that the British did not feel Count Sforza would be a particularly happy choice as foreign minister and ac cused Sforza of working against the Italian government of Prime Minister Tvanoe Bonomi who was cooperating with Britain Bonomi later denied that Sforza had your War Bonds and Stamps from your GlobcGazelt carrier boy eason why John Bull is interven ng in Greece which long has been n his sphere of influence Its a mighty important point in flat sphere too for it not only is outinel of the Balkans but lies Imost athwart the Dardanelles amous waterway between the Slack sea and the Mediterranean As the signs now read Russia may oon be sailing through this strait is a great seapower to challenge peacefully but still to challenge iritains domination of the Medi errancan which perhaps more han any other single factor has maintained England as the gen darme of Europe Of course as Churchill says conflict between the Greek gov jrnrnent and armed guerillas the eftists make it impossible for Britain to caiTy out relief meas ures in the stricken country He ilso promises that the people shall have a free choice of government Still the Greek imbroglio isnt an isolated instance Britain also s supporting the Bonimi govern ment of Italy which is having hard sledding against communist and other leftist opposition that is against the monarchy London also has turned thumbs dowii on Count Sforza for Italian foreign minister The count re putedly leans towards the left and s antimonarchist Similarly Eng and is supporting the Belgian government In all this Moscow has sat very tight The Washington state de partment however Tuesday came out with its striking declaration hat the United States expects the Italian people to develop their jovernment along democratic lines without influence from out side Thats blunt enough but more sweeping is the additional statement This policy would ap ply to an even more pronounced degree with regard to govern ments of the united nations and their liberated territories And Greece is a liberated united na tion TORPEDO BLAST Navy Doubts Cause Can Be Determined BfcAlester Okla In vestigation was begun Wednesday into the explosion of a truckload of torpedo warheads at the nearby naval ammunition depot which killed 11 men but navy authori ties expressed doubt that the cause would ever be determined The blast which shattered win dows in McAlester 9 miles distant occurred Tuesday afternoon when the 4 civilian employes and 7 en listed personnel were transferring the warheads the forward explo siveladen section of the torpedoes from a truck to a magazine located in the center of the depot reserva tion Capt Elmer Woodside com ENGLISH SEIZE BUILDINGS USED BY EAM REDS British Tanks and Machine Guns Gaining Control of Citys Center Athens British Sherman tank and a platoon or British sol diers seized headquarters oC the leftwing EAM party by storm Wednesday as fighting SPREAD through wide areas of Athens The communist party building on Constitution square also was taken Parachute troopers forced the main entrance with grenades and seized 42 prisoners including women Some were armed Greek authorities said they be lieved all resistance would be overcome by Thursday In Piraeus Port of Athens the clashes report edly had subsided Wednesday aft Fighting with tanks and ma chineguns broke out after snipers of the militia of the EAM national liberation front fired on a truckload of British troops before dawn killing one and wounding another A Sherman tank was sent to batter in the door of EAM head quarters and British troops charged the stairs scattering EAM defenders with half a dozen bursts of fire and cleaning up floor by floor One British soldier was killed by a bullet through the head while searching the building A dying ELAS soldier lay on the roof Quantities of grenades provisions ammunition and rifles were strewn about the building but most of the defenders apparently escaped British troops arc establishing control over the center of Athens by degrees working out in con centric tines Sniping continued incessantly throughout the city with occasional bigger thumps from grenades and machlnegniu EAM refusal to disband its mi litia brought on the crisis in which Britain has supported the shaken government of Premier George Papandreou The point at which the main AthensPiraeus road enters the capital was the scene of continu ous fighting British troops AN GEHED as casualties occur are fanning out around the Acropolis and around the ancient restored stadium twothirds of a mile to the southeast on the opposite side the highway British parachute troops re lieved besieged policemen of one precinct station house near the main railway station Three tanks rumbled up to help greyclad ci vilian police at a nearby head quarters The police clambered aboard the tanks but snipers hit mandant of the station reported The magazine was destroyed but no other dam age to other installations was in curred The 11 men just vanished and only a few small pieces of the truck were found Woodside said The only witnesses to the blast were driving along a road a half mile away IOWANS VOTE AYE Washington 8 publican representatives all voted Army ordnance troops have Tuesday as the house ap fitted or rebuilt from battledam ayed vehicles or from vehicles taken from the scrap heap 75 per cent of the automotive transport now being used by Lt Gen Mark W Clarks 5th army in Italy proved the freezing of the so cial security tax at one per cent Casting their voles in favor of the bill were Cunningham Gilchrist Gwynne Hoeven Jensen Lc Compte Martin and Talle some as they were driven to a safer headquarters The EAM called a strike in the Peloponnesian town of Patras and disarmed newlyrecruited na tional militiamen there But the British commander at Patras re covered the arms without a shot being fired In Salonika the situation was described as ticklish but no open trouble yet A British communique issued Wednesday morning said defiance of all orders both from the Greek government and Maj Gen R M Scobie ELAS troops continued to advance to ward the center ot Athens over whelming police posts and even firing on British troops on guard duty British and Greek regular forces have now gone into action in support of the civil power One British officer was killed and ah enlisted man was wounded as snipers in the Plakka district opened fire before dawn on the truckload troops passing along the main Piraeus road ELAS reinforcements were re ported enroutc to the city from outlying provinces The ELAS form the fighting branch of the leftwing EAM national libera tion front whose opposition to the present Greek government flared into a series of disorders Sunday During the night the RAF dropped parachute flares over the countryside around Athens while ieconnoitering for converging ELAS forces Sporadic small arms fire broke the stillness throughout the night in the capital No American troops are involved in the Athens fighting A floating population of between 60 and 100 American servicemen are here in cluding members of the transport command aircraft personnel and officers attached to the relief or ganization Scobie British commander of allied forces in Greece said it might be necessary to inform Brit ish and American authorities in Washington soon that the port ot Piraeus would be UNABLE to handle scheduled relict shipments because the EAM strike
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